COLLECTING MARINE FOSSILS AT
FLOYD COUNTY, GA
July 16, 2009

by Ray Hill

At this site you can find different species of brachiopods and some crinoids stems in shale rock. This site is easy to get to and can be very productive with just a little work. The fossils are plentiful here. This location in on a small county paved road in Floyd County, GA; kind of out in the country. The location is in a road-cut, not on private property, so there shouldn’t be a problem with folk collecting here. The only negative thing about this location is that there’s very little room to park. At the site you nearly need to go over into the ditch just to get your tires off the pavement.

You can see in the above photos where I pulled to the side of the road about as far as I dared and still had tires on the road.

You can see in the above photos where I pulled to the side of the road about as far as I dared and still had tires on the road. But, I’ve been to this location several times with just one vehicle and have been on club tips where there were several vehicles at this site without a problem. It may be that the country folk in the area are just used to all those crazy rock hunting folks stopping there.

This week when I visited this site with Ramona Beshear, my rock-buddy, a guy stopped in the road and asked “what are you folks looking for?” I walked across the road to his car and explained that we were looking for marine fossils in the bank. He said “Oh! I see so many people stopped here I just figured something valuable like gold or diamonds are there.” I laughed and said the fossils found there were of little value except to collectors and for science purposes. With that the guy said “Oh well, have fun.” and left.

Here’s a shot of the bank showing where the shale rock has been broken up there on the bank and a photo of a slab of shale rock I found with a nice brachiopod shell fossil in it.

To get to this location we traveled I-75 from Atlanta all the way to the Adairsville, GA exit. Exit #306. From there we went on Hwy 140 west 15.1 miles. We turned right on to Floyd Springs Road. Right where we turned onto Floyd Springs Road, off Hwy 140 there is the Armuchee Middle School on the left. From where we turned onto Floyd Springs Road we went 5.7 miles to a small road-cut on the right side of the road. Where you stop you should be able to see where others have been digging and collecting in the bank on the right. There is a large cow pasture on the left side of the road here.

Like I said, I’ve been to this location several times. I’ve learned that to find the nice specimens you must use a heavy tool like a miners pick or a rock bar to break up some of the fairly soft shale. It will take more work but you can even do a fair job with just your rock pick/hammer. What I do when I go here is to wipe the loose dirt and pieces of shale off the surface of the shale rock Then, I use a pick and break up a small area of the shale rock. I then go through the pieces I have broken up to find the nice shell fossils. Some pieces I must stand on edge and use my hammer to split into thinner sections in order to find the fossils.

One other thing you need to know about the fossils coming from here. THEY ARE VERY FRAGILE. Especially when you first collect them from the bank. I remember the first time I collected here I just piled all of my finds into a cardboard flat, placing specimens on top of each other. When I got home most of what I had collected was broken into small pieces. When you first remove pieces of this shale rock from the bank it has a lot of moisture inside the rock. Once the chunk of shale has dried completely it is not as fragile.

Here’s what you do. When you go to this site take two or three of the cardboard drink flats and a bunch of newspaper. Take your specimens and wrap each one individually, making sure you are cushioning each piece with the paper. Then place each wrapped specimen in the cardboard flats standing on edge….. not flat. Stand them up. Place the next specimen, standing up, next to that one, then the next, and so on. Standing the wrapped specimens up will insure you get them home without them breaking apart. And, what ever you do, do not leave your specimens outside where they will get wet, they’ll just fall apart.

Ray Hill
Great South Gems & Minerals, Inc.
www.greatsouth.net
888-933-GEMS

Note: Only rock clubs have permission to print this article but must give credit to the author, Ray Hill, and Great South Gems & Minerals, Inc. For everyone else, please email us for permission.

Great South Gems & Minerals, Inc. www.greatsouth.net 38 Bond Drive Ellenwood, Georgia 30294 USA 1-888-933-GEMS (4367) FAX: 770-389-8095